Looks as though Mrs J is suffering from this in her left leg. Off to the GP in the morning, but any advice on relieving symptoms would be useful. She’s tried Paracetemol, Ibuprofen tabs & gel, deep heat spray & cream, asprin, hot water bottle, ice pack and combinations of all of the above without much success. She is having real trouble sitting and lying down.
I’ve checked out siatica.co.uk and couple of other forums, but any other practical advice would be welcome.
TIA
Geoff

There are some sciatica relieving exercises on youtube. My physio gave me some to do which do work but it’ll take a few days for them to get rid of it. Maybe I should do them all the time 🙄

Plenty of GPs will recommend this –
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Treat-Your-Back-Robin-McKenzie/dp/0958269203/

massage her feet, find the painful knots and rub them out, get a plug in massager (one with the two feet on it) and massage her back for about 15 minutes but gently then do her feet again. then send her to bed.

Find out what’s causing it and get it treated appropriately 🙂

Could be slipped disc, muscle problem, yadda, yadda. Until you find the cause then you’re going to struggle to sort it.

A lot of my exercises, given to me by my Physio, were to build up my core muscles. Also things like when sitting in the car, or at a desk, keep knees and waist/hips at 90 degrees.

They do work, but you have to keep at it or the sciatica will creep back.

I think the OP was looking for something to help tonight. Not a huge amount I can offer as advice for now really – sorry. You can get fairly strong painkillers from a pharmacy – stronger than otc ones. Gentle massage and a warm bath might help. I get it sometimes and I can relieve it either by hanging upside down by my legs or getting someone to pull my legs while lying on the floor holding on to something but I could not recommend you try it as there is the potential too make things worse

Thanks folks, some useful stuff here. Hopefully the GP will start the investigation of what is causing it.

When I had siatic nerve problem early last year nothing would take the pain away – the doctor prescribed me 3 lots of drugs but the pain killers wouldn’t touch it. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news 🙁

I found cycling helped as it stretched out my back. It went away for a while then a couple of months later – bang !!!!

Luckily I had private insurance and had a disc operated on.

I feel sorry for your wife as I know how much pain it can be.

Docs will more often than not treat the symptoms with painkillers, NSAIDs etc which will possibly relieve it but not fix it.
As said before – core strength and core exercises will more than likely solve the issues. Its caused by trapped or impinged nerves and this in turn is generally caused by muscle imbalances. As an ex-sufferer the only solution i found was to do heaps of core work and funnily enough i have had no problem since. And core work is so simple and easy to do i always wonder why people don;t do it as a matter of course.
Or you can pump yourself full of drugs and/or have an operation.

As a sufferer, I agree core work is the best course of action once the inflammation has died down – a couple of pilates classes are probably best to nail the exercises properly, and make sure you are firing the right muscles etc (there’s also the fact that if you have a dodgy disc then there are certain moves you shouldn’t do, and the teacher should be able to find you alternatives), otherwise there’s quite a bit you can do on a fit ball on your own as well. In the mean time, I kind of grade mine into the following treatments:
1) not too bad – couple of brufen (normal dose)
2)bit worse – couple of 400 mg brufen / ice pack (15 mins on, 30 mins of, repeat)
3)start on the other drugs: NSAIDS (diclofenac) ; coediene (makes me absolutely psychotic, so try to avoid); and if really bad valium (for the times when the muscle spasms mean I cant even get up or move a muscle without screaming)

One thing I found worked really well was the SO’s TENS machine (from when she was with sprog) – I had reached the screamy stage above and this at least enabled me to move around the bed if lying down or crawl to the bog – had to have it up full mind you to block the nerve. Might be worth a go to relieve some of the pain as it seemed to work reasonably well on low at other times.

You need to get the source of it – sciatica can be caused from a plethora of issues, from disc issues all the way to piriformis issues (like what I have). Once that is pinpointed, then the rehab can commence – I’d not be recommending exercise / core strengthening until that is discovered – more damage could be done. I was on a mix of Diclofenac and Co-codomol – interesting at times.

My doc said “yes, you’ve got siatica, it’ll go away in about six weeks, in the mean time have some painkillers”. He was right 🙂

Time! I’ve been suffering a bad cout of sciatica (prolapsed disc) since July. It was unbearable then I would have signed up for an op straight away, if one owas available. That was then, and gradually the pain decreases to a level that is tolerable. If it’s caused by a disc, then it takes 12 months to resolve. There are some good stretches, but depending on where the disc has bulged, best to get it right and see what the GP recommends.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, I feel pretty good now. I couldn’t imagine I would back in July. I couldn’t sit down, hardly walk even, now I’m 80% back to normal.

If it goes away in 6 weeks – or even 6 months – then great. Mine was nearly a year till I had an op to make it go away, and Dutch doctors don’t like prescribing pain killers, so I was on ibuprofen only. Thank god that’s finished.

MBT shoes have done wonders for me 🙂

Mine is related to wrecked hip rotator muscles affecting my posture – regular (15-30 mins, 3-4 times a week) physio exercises is the only thing that controls it.

I recently put one of my sacroiliacs joint out (pore core strength blah blah blah). After getting it diagnosed/fixed by a physiotherapist I read up about it. Apparently problems with said joint can be misdiagnosed as sciatica. Might be worth checking out.

Symptoms were trouble getting in and out of car, rolling over in bed, bending to put socks on and pain after sitting upright.

Been given exercises to do plus hip flexor stretches (which are contracted when on a bike)

I really should type more carefully 🙂

Doc reckons its to do with lifting a 2 year old in and out of a car seat – possible. Has prescribed pain killers, signed her off for 2 weeks and suggested we try a private physio – the local NHS physios don’t accept referrals for back pain up here apparently 🙄 . Private physio hunting this afternoon.

You could check out the local osteopaths too.

Sciatica is a symptom – not an illness – many things can casuse the inflammation of the sciatic never

I agree with most of the advice here! get your doc to get a MRI. I put up with the pain and a probable misdiagnosis before my disc prolapsed to such an extent I needed an operation (I couldn’t sit could barely stand)I was told it was a piriformis problem.

I’m now doing the core muscle exercises and I’ve started on the turbo trainer. It will be June (at least) before I go off road…..